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Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (A special moment among special moments ...)

Riley was handed a Heisman winner. Riley was dealt a pair of Kings and Tom had a suited 8-9. We flopped a nice hand, turn hit our straight, and pulling old Riley into the most beautiful bear trap on the River. His ass is ours for the next decade.

He’ll be coaching the Cowboys in a few years...
 
BUY or SELL: Tom Herman>Lincoln Riley?

(Sell) I'm not quite ready to go that far, but he was greater than Riley yesterdayand I'm open to the idea that it wasn't an accident.

Buy, Riley was setup for success given the last 5 years. Herman had to overhaul the whole PROGRAM and is a full year ahead at this point imo. And yes, I’m a homer! ;)
You are mostly right. Stoops recruited very well on the defensive side of the ball. I'm noticing a major difference in the way OU plays defense under Riley. In the long run Riley is an offense minded coach and usually teams with that type of coach aren't know for their defensive efforts. See Mike Leach for reference:) Good stuff Ketch.
 
Let's not all of us get too chesty. The Longhorns still have some really tough road games against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State which are two teams that play the Longhorns really tough and that come running and gunning for UT every year. Then the Longhorns have a really tough home game against West Virginia the Longhorns will have to play like they did against OU on offense and play much better defense than they did against OU in order for us to have a really good shot at winning all of those games. I wonder if Ketch or Suchomel or Anwar can give us their prognostician on what the Longhorns record will be on those games because I would like to know.
 
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The line about nationwide football scores mattering was right on. Good lord I was a much younger man the last time that happened. It’s fun to watch TV again during football season. I actually saw a prediction for Texas to the Sugar Bowl. What’s that?

Agree on the UFC. There were several worthwhile moments on that card, but who will remember any of them? The anti-poster boy shit the bed against a really boring fighter that nobody outside of diehards actually likes to watch fight. I appreciate what he does, but it’s not fun to watch. Oh, and he’s a loser too that the entire nation will likely boo and trash forever more now. Good times.
I thought about you during the entire card. It really was an entertaining card, but the main event ended up producing all the things that I don't typically associate with the sport, which is typically a lot of class and respect between fighters.
 
Still confused on why Murray dissed Sam if he was only congratulating him on a good game. Doesn't make any sense unless they had some sort of beef before.
Murray isn't a good dude. It's that simple.
 
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BUY or SELL: Texas' coaching staff will stay intact for next season?

(Sell) I still believe Herman will have to make at least one move that provides more ammunition in the way of Metroplex recruiting in 2020 and 2021.

So who is Beaty going to replace?
Warehime has the least clout.
 
Let’s say they lose another couple games, and Murray gets roughed up another time or two. Do you see a situation where he’d potentially shut it down for the last few games and protect his baseball future? Gotta admit, I’d love watching that circus unfold.
No, I think he finishes the string... unless he gets "injured"
 
Next Recruit to commit and do we finish with a top 10 class? Will we be able to flip a player now that you did not thing we would before the OU game?
a. The one I would have picked just went down. I'd say Marcus Washington.

b. Yes, on the top 10.

c. Not sure, stay tuned.
 
Man, what a write-up, and not just b/c we won (though it didn't hurt).

I was going to list them, but it was spot on. 1-5 may have been your best ever to me.

Couple of comments...I agree Cosmi has become a beast, and most of the credit goes to Sam himself for his hard work. Kid is playing at an All Conference rate (or better?). He went from a 'meh' backup LT at the end of spring (and that was before Anderson even got here), to a true beast at RT starting sometime in mid/late August and forward. He's clearly our best OL as a RS Fr. I just hope he stays for his jr. year (as a RS he's eligible after his 3rd year (RS Soph).

But some credit should be sent to Herb Hand for incredible development, and some to Yancy. Hand is molding the clay like a true artist.

I agree Herb needs a lifetime extension as OL coach. What he has done has been nothing short of amazing. I got a kick out of all the OBers that were freaking out about bitching from Auburn's fans. BTW, they rehired Grimes, who Malzahn originally fired along with the entire staff when he took over (and hired Hand). Grimes has been a fine OL coach for some time, but some Auburn fans are already screaming for his head as their OL has struggled. I think the moral of it all is be careful listening to other teams fans about the quality of their coaches, unless they really, really know football, and in this case OL in particular. Most fans don't.

If Hand gets dementia or similar in a couple of decades we can buy out his K. Otherwise he's not going anywhere. I just wonder how big a raise he gets in the off-season. I hope it's a good one.

Also, while I tend to agree with Jason that Boyd has had his struggles this year, it should be pointed out he's gone against some NFL bound WRs, and no CB wins every battle against top WRs. None. The key is resilience as our CBs play on an Island more than most teams. Saturday Boyd played within himself, kept his cool and played a top notch game against one of the better sets of WRs in the conference, if not the country. Hat's off, Kris.

Damn, Texas has one of the most physical, tough teams in the country. I keep saying that to myself over and over (it's been so damn long), and I cant stop smiling.

Simply a great write-up, and I have to admit while reading your piece about Sam and his father, I got something in my eye, and that seldom happens. Great job on this one.
Thanks for the really kind words. Same thing happened to me while writing it.
 


It was just impossible not to feel incredibly good for Texas sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger in the wake of Saturday's win over the Sooners.

From a pure football standpoint, Ehlinger had just played the best game of his young career, tossing two touchdowns and scampering for three more on the ground, while playing the type of clean football in a big game that many felt he was incapable of producing.

If that's all Saturday had been for the second-year player out of Austin Westlake, it would have meant a lot. Yet, the reality is that the box score is only the beginning of the story that unfolded inside the Cotton Bowl.

For a kid that grew up watching Texas football and dreaming of one day becoming the starting quarterback for his beloved Longhorns, in part because it's one of the connections with his deceased father that he forever holds dearest to his soul, yesterday's outcome felt incredibly personal from the outside looking in.

You couldn't help but have the sense with every smile after every touchdown that he was somehow sharing the entire experience with his father and if that was indeed the case, the experience included Ehlinger reserving a piece of Texas/OU lore that will stand the test of time.

Winning the OU game already secures a certain amount of forever street cred for Texas quarterbacks, but being the best player on the field in a game that will be remembered as one of the true classics in the history of this bitter series is the kind of thing that won't soon be forgotten. When you add in the fact that he had a post-game exchange of words with OU's petulant quarterback Kyler Murray, leaving an emphatic punctuation mark on his thoughts towards his turnover-prone peer, Ehlinger is suddenly a made man in Austin in a way that didn't exist prior to Sunday.

Ehlinger wakes up this morning with his life changed. He might play 300 more games in his lifetime and there might never be another moment quite like the one he lived on Saturday.

It was romantic. It was beautiful. It was a Disney movie unfolding in real time in front of us all.

No. 2 - Let the scoreboard watching begin!

With a freshly minted No. 9 ranking in the AP Poll and a No. 14 (WTF?!?) ranking in the SID Poll, the Longhorns are suddenly in a position where watching what takes place around the nation takes on an entirely different vibe.

College football games from coast to coast matter again!

For instance, Wisconsin at Michigan matters next weekend. So does Washington at Oregon. And Georgia at LSU. The bye week will potentially give Longhorn fans as many as a half-dozen games between ranked teams to keep an eye on, including Oklahoma travelling to Fort Worth for one of its toughest road games of the season.

If the Longhorns take care of business this weekend, they might find themselves coming out of the bye week creeping towards a top five spot in the AP Poll, which means absolutely nothing other than positioning the Longhorns for a legitimate run at a possible playoff bid discussion.

Yes, we're still a few steps away from that kind of discussion, but we're not that far.

College football can be a lot of fun when all the games matter.

No. 3 - Unsung Heroes ...

unsung-hero.jpg


Here are five names from Saturday that probably haven't received nearly enough love for their roles in UT's win.

* Kris Boyd -
There was enough concern about the Texas senior cornerback coming into this game that I argued with @Suchomel for at least 10 minutes about the quality of play he'd been delivering this season and I guaranteed that Boyd would play well on Saturday. He ended playing well enough that Oklahoma stayed away from his side of the field for much of the game and when they did come his way, he snuffed out whatever screen pass or other delusions that might have existed about getting one over on him.

* Keontay Ingram - Ho-hum, just another 6+ yards per carry on 13 carries. It really might be possible that he's the best player on this offense and that realization just hasn't been made yet by most.

* Andrew Beck -
Finished with three catches on the day, but two of them were monsters. I thought Beck delivered a captain's performance in the biggest game of his collegiate career.

* Brandon Jones - Led the team in tackles, made a huge interception and might have been the best player on the field. It's taken a little while to get there, but Jones is living up to his lofty recruiting rankings.

* Justin Mader - Everyone will remember that Cameron Dicker connected on the game-winner as a true freshman, but how about some recognition for the freshman from Magnolia High School that calmly snapped the ball back to fellow freshman Ryan Bujcevski on the play without so much as a small hitch? Nice job, kid. Is that the biggest contribution in the history of the Texas/OU game from a player from Magnolia?

No. 4 - Giving some credit where credit is due ...

Watching redshirt freshman Sam Cosmi perform like a future NFL player at every step of his first season of actual play in Austin, it's hard not to look back at his recruitment and realize that one of Orangebloods' favorite whipping boys played a big role in this whole thing playing out the way that it has.

That whipping boy?

None other than Texas tight ends coach and former offensive line coach Derek Warehime.

It was Warehime that landed him at Houston as an offensive line commitment and Warehime that flipped him from Houston to Texas at the end of the 2017 recruiting year. I'm sure Tom Herman gets some credit for the evaluation of Cosmi as well, but Warehime's fingerprints are all over the place on this one.

Same with Derek Kerstetter.

Just saying...

No. 5 - Confession time ...

I took way more enjoyment in Kyler Murray losing yesterday and being hugely responsible for the loss than I know I should have, especially when I'm the first to admit that professionalism matters.

Of course, right as a little bit of guilt started to sink in, he pulled that mess with Ehlinger and it reminded me ... oh yeah ... I don't like him as a dude. He's the kind of guy that shows up late for everything because other people's time doesn't matter as much as whatever he wants and he has been able to get away with it his entire life because really good football players with attitude issues rarely get checked.

So, while I feel guilty, I don't feel that guilty.


No. 6 - Compare and contrast ...

Given that Sam Ehlinger won the Walter Camp Player of the Week Award over the weekend, I thought it might be interesting to see how his peers from the 2017 recruiting class are holding up.

Here's a look at the top 10 dual-threat quarterbacks from Ehlinger's class.

1. Kellen Mond (Texas A&M) - Is having a solid season as the starting quarterback for the Aggies, as he's posted a 140.3 passing efficiency rating thus far this season.

2. Tate Martell (Ohio State) - Has played very well in limited duty as the second-string guy for the Buckeyes.

3. Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama) - Quarterback God.

SourCarefulGroundbeetle-size_restricted.gif


4. Keytaon Thompson (Mississippi State) - Not yet making a huge impact in his first two seasons.

5. Ehlinger - Might not earn all-Big 12 honors this season, but would appear to be on track for first-team all-Big 12 status heading into his junior season.

6. Jack Sears (USC) - Lost in the quarterback abyss at the moment with J.T. Daniels jumping in front of him on the depth chart.

7. Braxton Burmeister (Oregon) - Currently the back-up in his sophomore season.

8. N'Kosi Perry (Miami) - Has been a star for the Hurricanes in his redshirt freshman season, which included him leading his team to a come from behind win over Florida State this weekend.

9. Malik Cunningham (Louisville) - Hasn't yet played himself onto the field much in his redshirt freshman season with the Cardinals.

10. James Blackman (Florida State) - After playing significantly as a true freshman for the Seminoles, Blackman threw his first pass of the season this weekend against Miami.

The top 5 quarterbacks in Texas from the 2017 Class

1. Chris Robison (Oklahoma) - No longer with the Sooners program and is starting at quarterback for Florida Atlantic, where he has posted a 137.7 pass efficiency rating through six games.

2. Ehlinger

3. Shawn Robinson (TCU) - Has had some ups and downs in his first season of starting at TCU, but he's flashed a lot of upside.

4. Avery Davis (Notre Dame) -Hasn't yet taken a snap for the Irish.

5. Peyton Mansell (Iowa) - Has played very little this year as the back-up quarterback for the Hawkeyes.

No. 7 – Buy or Sell …
BUY-SELL.gif



BUY or SELL: We play OU again we can expect the same outcome?

(Sell) I don't think there's any reason for Texas to fear Oklahoma in a rematch considering UT physically whipped them for 50 minutes, but that team still has road games at TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia. They might give up 150 points in those three games and I don't think they'll be playing in the Metroplex in December.

BUY or SELL: Texas has a better chance to win the Big 12 than Oklahoma or West Virginia?

(Buy) As of today with a win over the Sooners in its hip pocket, yeah.

BUY or SELL: Both Johnson and LJH declare?

(Sell) Neither is having a monster season statistically. I've thought all season that this would be Collin Johnson's final season in Austin, but I have a hard time believing they would both depart with just pretty good seasons on their resumes.

BUY or SELL: Dicker the Kicker’s winning kick means more to the University of Texas than Tucker’s game winning kick over Aggies?

(Sell) This might be a better question if this season becomes something to be remembered for beyond this weekend, but that Tucker field goal is forever. You're taking for granted what it means not to have those sniveling fans reminding you every day of the loss had it gone the other way.

BUY or SELL: Tom Herman>Lincoln Riley?

(Sell) I'm not quite ready to go that far, but he was greater than Riley yesterday and I'm open to the idea that it wasn't an accident.

BUY or SELL: The Texas offensive line is the reason Texas is 5-1 and looking the best the offense has looked since the Colt era?

(Buy) Give Herb Hand a lifetime contract.

BUY or SELL: Should Herman should remain calling plays for the rest of this season at least?

(Buy) Is this a trick question?

BUY or SELL: The days of Texas having the worst starting QB in the RRS are over?

(Buy) The Longhorns look like a team that will have an edge at this position going into the next two years, at the very least.

BUY or SELL: Texas still finishes at your preseason prediction of 8-4?

(Sell) I'm adjusting my prediction after this weekend.

BUY or SELL: Texas' coaching staff will stay intact for next season?

(Sell) I still believe Herman will have to make at least one move that provides more ammunition in the way of Metroplex recruiting in 2020 and 2021.

BUY or SELL: Ingram will get 20 carries per game in every remaining game this season?

(Sell) I'm not sure he'll get 20 carries in any game this season. This coaching staff doesn't really do 20-carry game backs at this point.

No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …

... How good has Tua Tagovailoa been? If you projected his six game stats over 12 games, here's how they would look... 152 of 202 for 2,990 yards, 36 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Total efficiency rating: 258.4

... Just when I started to believe a little in LSU, they reminded us all that they are in fact still LSU.

... Oklahoma State is not a good football team.

... Nice win for Texas A&M this weekend, but that was 60+ minutes of ugly football. I'll never get that time back.

... Zach Gentry caught seven passes for 112 yards for Michigan on Saturday.

... UFC 229 was one hell of a card, but I have to be honest, it's hard for me to get behind a product when one side of the main event is spewing constant trash out of a mouth that apparently has zero limits, while the other side of the product responds with hooliganism. I just came away from the entire event with a bad taste in my mouth. It just felt like a bunch of trash and I'm too old to care about trash. Meanwhile, Dana White pretended like he hadn't fostered and enabled everything that happened, while pushing responsibility on the determination of any punishment on the Nevada Athletic Commission. Be better, UFC.

... As a Liverpool fan, I'll admit that I had an attitude full of bravado when the team began a stretch of games against the likes of Tottenham, PSG, Chelsea (X2), Napoli and Man City over the course of a 23-day period, but I'm glad that there's an international break because that grind has taken some toll and its pound of flesh. Bring on Huddersfield in 13 days!

... Thank you, Pep. Appreciate you calling for Riyad Mahrez to take that penalty.

... Manchester United might not be a great team, but I can't think of a more fascinating one.

... What the hell is going on in la Liga? What the hell is going on in the Bundesliga?

... Be on the look out. That ball that Gary Sanchez hit against the Red Sox on Saturday still hasn't landed.

No. 9 - The List: John Lennon ...

The older I get, the more I love him. He would have been 78 years old on Tuesday and I find myself wondering all the time what would have become of him if he hadn't been taken from us far too soon.

Here's my Top 10 John songs.

10. You've Really Got a Hold On Me
9. Help
8. Revolution
7. Yer Blues
6. Instant Karma
5. Dear Prudence
4. Twist and Shout
3. Come Together
2. Strawberry Fields Forever
1. Imagine

No. 10 – And Finally...


Color me as, ok, "did not see that coming." I loved Sam's attitude and his grit. But, I admit I did not think he would ever reach anything close to accurate. And, he still has a ways to go. The difference is that I can see him getting better and better until he very well might become an elite QB. I did not see that coming. Good on you, Sam.
 
You are so right and it has been so dang long..... “college football can be so fun when all the games matter.”
 
Are you suggesting that another OU loss would necessarily result in Murray suffering a severe vaginal bruise?

I’m suggesting that I honestly think he’d play this year, win a natty and then ride off to his millions. So yes, I’m not sure his ego could take another loss especially if it’s someone other than Texas. He’s 21-22 and pouted like a fat kid who didn’t get a sucker in the checkout line during the press conference.
 
@Ketchum I didn't realize this until reading your column: Freshman long snapper to Freshman punter/holder to Freshman kicker - the biggest play of the game, the season so far and arguably since at least 2009 had all critical pieces executed flawlessly by three Freshman. None of them blinked, they all rose to the occasion and got it done. I am not sure how to articulate what that implies about the program and the coaching but it means something important. Maybe it represents in microcosm why we can believe CTH has really got something going here.
 
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Amen to that! I said the exact same thing to my wife last night... she’s a great wife (from Nam) that is truly happy for me when my Horns win and knows how much college football means to me in general.

I told her, “it is so nice to ENJOY watching all of the games again because they all become meaningful to me when we are relevant.”
Truer words never spoken.
 
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